Essay: Atonement by Ian McEwan

In 2001, British author Ian McEwan wrote the novel, Atonement. In this novel, Ian Mc Ewan has shown the silent apprehensions of the human mind and the degree of implication that they have on future events because of the decisions we make in the present that are based on them. The novel comprises of four parts, each of which represents a certain phase of evolution of the characters. However, one should not in any way judge the rapidness with which events take place. The play proceeds extremely rapidly and one can see that dread upon dread piles up as the characters evolve and learn about each other.

“But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was” (McEwan).

By the end of the first part of the play, there is no doubt left in the perception that Ian McEwan has decided that he will most definitely leave the audience in a state of consistent confusion and waiting as events unfold and the play moves on. In the first part, the very foundation of the play can be seen in the extreme degree of turmoil in the play (McEwan). However, as the second part of the play comes by, one can see that the inevitability of reunion does not allow the characters to escape scot free. As a matter of fact, the lead characters that had been torn apart by fate and war can be seen as they reunite in the very second part of the play. It is at this point that one can see that there is a certain degree of inevitability that fate holds that no person can escape from no matter how much they try and no matter which part of the world they choose to isolate themselves to.